IPL 7: Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli help RCB steamroll Delhi Daredevils

Sharjah The onetwo punch of left and right combination of Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli sawRoyal Challengers Bangalore cruise to a 8wicket win over Delhi Daredevils on ThursdayYuvraj struck form with a brilliant unbeaten half century 52 not out andshared 84 runs from just 79 overs with captain Virat Kohli 49 not out for the unconquered third wicket as RCB chased down the target of 146 with 20 balls to spare at the Sharjah Cricket StadiumYuvraj Singh in action during his matchwinning knock against Delhi DaredevilsYuvraj who received criticism from some quarters for his slow batting in Indias loss against Sri Lanka in the recent World T20 in Bangladesh began tentatively but came to his own later as he hit three fours and five sixes in his 29ball unbeaten knock Kohli who was adjudged player of the tournament in the World Twenty20 for topscoring with 319 runs continued with his top form in T20 though he was dropped twice on 23 and 24 The RCB skipper hit two fours and three sixes in his 38ball unconquered innings The duo competed in hitting fours and sixes towards the end of their run chase after opener Parthiv Patel had done well at the top of the innings with a 28ball 37 which was studded with five fours and a six RCB left out Chris Gayle due to a back problem but made a strong start though they lost IPL debutant Nic Maddinson 4 the young opener from Australia in the second over The other opener Patel and onedown and captain Kohli eased off the pressure of the early jolt with some sensible batting The duos 50run partnership came at the eighth over from just 55 overs with Patel finding more boundaries than his captain Patel hit five fours and a six while Kohli could get just one boundary in the 50run stand Patel perished while trying to play shots too many than required with legspinner Rahul Sharma cleaning him up as RCB were reduced to 62 for two in the ninth over Nextman in Yuvraj looked tentative in the beginning but hit some lusty blows to ease off pressure Kohli was let off on 23 and 24 in the space of five balls in the 13th over the unfortunate bowler being Wayne Parnell by IPL debutant Jimmy Neesham and Mayank Agarwal respectively Kohli and Yuvraj responded with a six each off Neesham to shrug off the let off by taking 15 runs in the 14th over The KohliYuvraj duo then decided to end the contest quickly as the duo took 20 runs from 15th over bowled by Rahul SharmaKohli smashed two sixes while Yuvraj also hit a maximum to add to the misery of Rahul who bled 33 runs from his three overs though he also took a wicketEarlier the Daredevils found themselves in tatters before JeanPaul Duminys brilliant unbeaten half century took them to a decent 145 for fourJP Duminy held the Delhi innings together with a solid67Put into bat the Daredevils were reduced to 35 for four in the eighth over with their top order batsmen coming a cropper before Duminy 67 not out and Ross Taylor 43 not out shared 110runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand at the Sharjah Cricket StadiumThe duo built the innings by grafting for runs initially before opening up towards the end Duminy especially slogged at the death overs as he hit a six off Yuvraj Singh and two maximums off Ashok DindaComing together at 35 for four the pair added 96 runs in the last 10 overs after the Daredevils could score just 49 for four at the halfway mark due to the initial joltsThe last five overs yielded 63 runs with Duminy and Taylor scoring 14 13 and 17 from the final three oversDuminy the more aggressive of the duo hit four boundaries and three sixes in his 48ball unbeaten knock while Taylor smashed four boundaries in his 39ball unconquered inningsFor RCB Mitchell Starc Albie Morkel Varun Aaron and Yuzvendra Chahal took a wicket eachRCB captain Virat Kohli opted to bowl after winning the toss and straightaway put the Daredevils in tatters by scalping their top three batsmen in the space of just eight balls between third and fifth oversOpener Mayank Aggarwal 6 captain Dinesh Karthik 0 and Manoj Tiwari 1 made brief appearances at the crease before they fell to Starc Morkel and Aaron respectively as the Daredevils were reduced to 17 for three in the fifth overThe other opener Murali Vijay 18 was shaping up well as he smashed a huge six off Starc and then a four off Morkel before he also perished without contributing muchYoung Haryana legspinner Chahal debuting for RCB in IPL bowled him with a beauty as the ball straightened after pitching to knock down Vijays offstump as the Daredevils found themselves in dire straits at 35 for 4The responsibility of taking Daredevils to a respectable total was thus left to Taylor and Duminy and the duo did their jobBrief scores Delhi Daredevils 1454 in 20 overs JP Duminy 67 not out Ross Taylor 43 not out Murali Vijay 18 Varun Aaron 19 Yuzvendra Chahal 118 Albie Morkel 118 lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore Yuvraj Singh 52 not out Virat Kohli 49 not out Parthiv Patel 37 Mohammed Shami 130 Rahul Sharma 133